Chapter Five: Old Verne
Old Verne was indeed no pretty site. His skin was leathery - a moldy green colour, his hair was falling out, he'd lost most of his teeth and one of his eyes, his ribs were protruding through his chest and the digits on his hands seemed more like pointed green claws than fingers. He was facing the wall when the platoon entered the room but he quickly spun around when he was addressed by Jackson.
"Verne?"
"Nomaname!" Verne announced. Andy explained.
"No one knows his real name, he's never told us, so we just call him Verne, because everyone needs a name and all."
"What happened here?" Jackson tried.
"I remember the little ones in the mountains. Never so many. Only small. Never so many. These ones big. They not see me. I hide in blankets." Verne stared at Jackson earnestly with his single blue eye. Then as if realizing for the first time that Jackson hadn't came alone, his eye scanned over the rest of the platoon. It rested on Stealth. He walked towards her then, his arms outstretched.
"Ashina! You're just like your mother, only she didn't look so mean." The other platoon members sniggered, Stealth was unimpressed. Unfortunately for her Verne wasn't finished.
"Tried to get back but the Raiders blocked our path. I saw your mother get taken. I saw your father get killed. I wanted to come back for you and get you out of that hole in the ground." The platoon kept laughing, not noticing how upset stealth actually was; they didn't know the fool's mutterings actually made sense. She felt like she'd just received a hard smack in the face, she had to get out of there. So she did. She strode out of the tiny room, back through the hall and outside.
Once outside and in the burning heat Stealth found she couldn't bear to be under the gaze of the forever watchful sun. She ran into a neighboring building and slumped against the wall. Did this mean that her name was actually Ashina? Was Verne there when the pillagers attacked? How else could he know? Stealth gripped her head in her hands. She had developed a pounding headache.
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"Twenty-three men, women and children missing, even the two dogs that lived here." Jackson was thinking out loud. The five platoon members were standing around outside trying to get their heads around what they had learnt. They had left because Verne's stench was beginning to become nauseating.
"Do you think those…beasts…could have eaten them all?" Jenkins asked the squad leader, who shook his head.
"No. There would be traces of blood around and it seems more like everyone just got up and left."
"It's around the same number of beasts to villagers. You think they carried them off?" Randal asked.
"Maybe, but, why wasn't Verne taken as well?" Replied Jackson.
"He sure doesn't look too appetizing. Or healthy. His mutation may be a factor." Garson put forward.
"Or maybe they couldn't find him. Those blankets could out smell even Verne. Why did Stealth leave anyway?" Jenkins asked.
"She needs her head read if she lets some demented mutant disturb her like that." Randal scoffed. Leroy wasn't impressed with Randal's remark.
"Show some respect and besides, for all we know she might actually know this Verne fool," Leroy said. "Though she should be back now."
"I am." Said Stealth, coming up behind them. No one asked her why she had left. She wouldn't have told them anyway.
"We've developed a way for you to trek up the Crowning Ranges." Senior Scribe Schwartz, one of the leading scientists of the Brotherhood, announced.
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"You make it sound like a simple walk in the park, Schwartz." Randal mused, at which Leroy joked:
"How do you know it isn't? Have you walked through a park lately?" His joke went down well at the table, everyone laughed.
Another thing which Stealth found she didn't like. The General was sitting at the head of the table, and instead of bringing the briefing back to order, he allowed the laughter to run its course. Stealth alone seemed to see that there was a time and a place for everything, and a serious briefing was no time for witticisms. Perhaps they were just nervous about the challenge they were about to face, but what ever it was, she knew this behaviour would not be tolerated at Chackton.
"We have devised a suit lined with lead that protects your body from the radiation." Schwartz started up again, asking for the room's attention. "It covers your entire body; you breathe through this mask that purifies the air. They're a sandy colour to act as camouflage against the mountain terrain. They can withstand the radiation assault for about three days, and then the lead seems to weaken and break down." One Schwartz's assistants, who had been standing behind him the whole time, stepped forward and placed the lead suit on the table.
"Can I ask if one of you would like to demonstrate how it looks on?" Schwartz queried, and Leroy immediately took up the offer. When he was wearing it, the others seated at the table noticed it seemed twice as big as Leroy himself and rather hard to walk in.
"We have concluded that lead is actually harmful if exposed to for a long period of time so we have made the suit bigger so it hangs off the body and contact is reduced. There is plenty of room for amour underneath though."
"Armor?! I can barely wear this suit with out toppling over!" Leroy remarked, his voice slightly distorted through the mask.
"It would seem that your lead suits are hazardous, cumbersome, and too frail against the onslaught of radiation we face. Overall a genuine nuisance. It would be far too dangerous for us to venture up the Crowning Ranges wearing these. We would be ill equipped to stand up against any hostile life we may encounter, let alone thirty mystery beasts."
"As inefficient as these suits may be," the General started, "they are the only defenses we have against the mountains. You have three days to find out all you can about these mysterious creatures and come back, nothing more until we know more about what we're up against. Dismissed."